Book it: NCAA tourney brackets with a literary twist

Trade publication Bookreporter.com took the 66 teams in the NCAA men's basketball tournament and paired each with a book written by a graduate or faculty member from that school.

The University of Wisconsin and Marquette fared well in Bookreporter's match-ups. Bucky Badger is represented by Peter Straub's"Ghost Story." Next to Stephen King, Straub may be the biggest name in American horror writing. (He was also born in Milwaukee and occasionally sets a book in our state.)

As for Marquette, Bookreporter made the delightful selection of Margaret Coel's"Buffalo Bill's Dead Now: A Wind River Mystery." Coel is a 1960 journalism grad from MU. She's been dubbed Tony Hillerman's heir for her mysteries set in the American west, featuring Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Jesuit priest Fr. John O'Malley. Folks, in my book, being dubbed Tony Hillerman's heir is like being called Michael Jordan's heir on the basketball court. I hope Fr. Scott Pilarz has a couple of Coel's books in his office for quiet time between budget meetings.

While UW and Marquette are paired with solid works, some of the Bookreporter selections are whimsical, even cheeky. A Tar Heel fan must be involved, because Duke, of all the possible books it could have been assigned, is matched with professional rude boy Tucker Max's "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell." Reading-wise, that's a first-round exit, Coach K. (As for the Tar Heels, they're fronted by Tom Wolfe's entertaining "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.")

Notre Dame, one of Marquette's great rivals, gets Nicholas Sparks' "The Notebook." Yowsa!

Oregon, many bracketeers' upset pick on the hardwood, has a feisty literary avatar: Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club." Missouri's only a #9 seed in hoops, but it would be a top seed in drama with Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire."